It has long been the practice of tailors, seamstresses, quilters, and others who make products from cloth or paper to use a paper pattern for cutting pieces to be joined in the product.
In general, the paper pattern is used to provide a guide for cutting the material with some type of scissors. Paper or other thin, flexible patterns designed for use with scissors can be rendered inaccurate by cutting the pattern during use such that subsequent pieces cut from the same pattern are different from the earlier pieces. The problem of inaccurate cutting and corruption of the pattern is especially troublesome when used with blade type cutting tools rather than scissors.
In addition, using such patterns requires that they be secured in some manner to the material during cutting. The present invention provides a substantially rigid template which can be used repeatedly to accurately and safely cut one or more layers of material using a sharp, blade type cutting tool without the need to trace the template or secure it to the material before cutting.